


Blonde Curls

by Between_A_Dream



Series: Family Matters [7]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Family, Helena and Delphine friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-21 08:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11353596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Between_A_Dream/pseuds/Between_A_Dream
Summary: Sarah and Cosima arrange for Helena to spend the night with her and Delphine in order to help them bond.





	Blonde Curls

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I'm sorry this has been so long, and I'm sorry about the slight cliffhanger, but it will be mentioned again!
> 
> The credit for this idea, though tweaked slightly, goes to Tumblr user C-sima, she has a lot of great headcannons about Delphine and her acceptance into the group so I figured this would be a good way to start this AU back up!
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! Please comment your thoughts!

Delphine could only smile in slight shock and amusement as she walked into their apartment. Two sets of paws scraped furiously on the ground, accompanied by frustrated whimpers and displeased meows. Followed by these sounds were the smell of smoke and Cosima rushing around the corner, nearly slipping and falling due to her socks on the hardwood floor.

"Hey there... Delphine..." she cracked a wide grin, her eyes anything but innocent as she panted through her words and leaned against the doorframe in an attempt to look casual. She smelled heavily of burnt food and her glasses were smudged and slightly fogged up.

"Bonjour Cosima," the blonde woman let out a chuckle and watched her girlfriend adjust her position slightly to lean closer against the wood. "Are you going to explain, or do I have to find out for myself?" she giggled as Cosima's face fell and her head dropped. She stepped aside, keeping her head down, and Delphine couldn't help the laughter that was emitted from her throat as she observed the scene before her.

There were scattered dishes everywhere, along with two trays of food that was so burnt that Delphine couldn't confidently identify what either had previously contained. Smoke billowed from the oven and the floor was covered in scattered bits of burnt food.

"Someone's been busy," she chuckled, turning to face her dreadlocked girlfriend who was currently doing her best to sport a pout and cover her guilt with an innocent whimper. "I thought you hated to cook?"

"Well, you were at work and I didn't know when you'd be back, but I needed to try and make some food because... Well... We're getting company," she admitted with a nervous laugh. Delphine raised an eyebrow and Cosima sighed.

"Helena is coming over," she admitted. "Don't worry! She really likes you!" she continued after noticing the look of fear that was immediately evident in the French woman's eyes. "She just... She eats a lot, you know, and I wanted to make her feel welcome because she's never been over here before and I know you've only met once, and she kept insisting that she needed to officially meet you so she could form a proper opinion of you and I just... Please?" Cosima's rant eventually turned into a simple begging word, and Delphine could only laugh and shake her head with an amused sigh.

"You're something else mon amour," she chuckled, and the brunette grinned widely. She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips against the doctor's cheek before turning to the kitchen and grimacing aloud. She looked up at Delphine with a hopeful giggle and sighed as her eyes scanned the room.

"So... I guess we have some cleaning to do?"

* * *

It was an hour later when Helena showed up at Cosima and Delphine's door, Sarah and Felix behind her. She hadn't given a specific time to her arrival, but it had been good timing considering that Delphine had just finished setting the table and cooking some French dish that Cosima didn't bother trying to pronounce or even remember, knowing she would butcher it to the point of emitting laughter from her girlfriend. So instead she stayed in the kitchen, cleaning up what she could and getting Delphine to clean up what she couldn't reach because yes, she had somehow managed to create a mess taller than she could even physically reach.

Cosima welcomed both her sisters with large hugs as they entered the apartment. The blonde clone gave her sister a cheeky smile before walking inside.

"Take care of her tonight," Sarah informed her from the entrance to the door.

"We will, promise," Cosima grinned widely. Sarah let out a sigh and nodded, waving through the door to Delphine. She gave a small wave back and the British woman turned her attention back to her sister. "Everything will be okay. Helena will be fine, Delphine really wants to make a good impression."

"Okay. I just... I hope this works," Sarah let out a breath and placed a hand on the scientist's shoulder, offering a smile before turning and letting Cosima close the door behind her.

"You made food," Helena's comment was nonchalant, simple really, but her eyes were wide and she stared at Delphine like she was surprised they had cooked.

"Yeah, we figured you'd like... Uh... Delphine what is this again?" Cosima laughed as she gestured to the table.

"It's called Tarte Flambée," she explained with a small laugh.

"It's like a French pizza," Cosima knew Helena would ask further questions if it wasn't clarified as to what the dish actually was, and the blonde seemed satisfied with her sister's explanation. "Hungry?"

Helena's only response was a nod, and she sat down quietly.

"Is good," she mumbled after a few bites, and Delphine smiled at the blonde.

Throughout dinner Cosima marveled at how different she acted around Delphine. Then again, the only people she had ever seen Helena around were their other sisters and family she trusted, or people she planned to dispose of, and Delphine was neither of those. The French woman meant a lot to Cosima, as far as Helena knew, but she hadn't known her long enough to trust her, and she couldn't hurt her, so the dreadlocked clone was well aware that her brain was still working out how to act in this scenario.

Delphine was nothing but polite, asking broad questions in attempts to get to know the clone better, but she too treaded carefully in the waters of the conversation. She only knew of her past what Cosima had told her, and by the sound of it, it hadn't been pleasant, so she mostly tried to avoid mentioning her childhood and instead opted to ask her about her hobbies and her upcoming twins.

Cosima felt bad for the both of them, wanting nothing more than for them to get along. When they had finished eating, Delphine was quick to clean the table, and while this was nothing unusual, seeing as how she normally made the effort to do it herself anyway, Cosima knew she also felt uncomfortable sitting at the table and was glad for the example. The brunette was pulled from her thoughts when she saw Eskimo jump up on the table. She was about to scold the kitten, but she noticed Helena staring with wide, curious eyes at the ball of white fur and she couldn't bring herself to interrupt the moment.

"His name is Eskimo," she explained to her sister, who was still observing the small bundle of fur.

"He is... A cat?" she asked, and Cosima nodded in confirmation with a smile.

"He's a baby still, only a few months old," Delphine chimed in from the kitchen, once again making an effort to engage in conversation with the wild haired blonde.

"He is smart," Helena observed as he pawed curiously at a strand of her hair. She folded her hands in her lap and he mewed lightly, staring up at her with bright blue eyes.

"He is," Cosima laughed and ran a hand over his ears, encouraging the blonde to do the same. She picked the kitten up with such gentleness that one would think she was holding fragile glass, and the smile on her face only eased the brunette across the table. As Delphine sat down beside her girlfriend, Helena looked up and stared at her for a moment.

"Your hair," she set the kitten down and stared at the blonde curls, blinking as if it were the first time she had noticed. "This I like."

"Oh! We could do your hair if you wanted?" Cosima was so quick to jump on the suggestion that she didn't give Delphine time to think about it, but as soon as Helena's eyes widened with excitement the French woman didn't have a response other than to smile and grab her curling iron, a bottle of hair spray and a spray bottle of water, and a brush.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Helena was sitting crosslegged in front of the couch, Eskimo in her lap and Chance by her feet, while Delphine worked on her hair and Cosima sat by her sister's side. Helena alternated between petting Eskimo and playfully growling or barking at Chance, who only responded with playful yips and returned the growling happily. Delphine had spent the majority of the past few minutes simply brushing Helena's wild blonde mane, making sure to take extra care to be gentle. When her hair was brushed and sprayed with a bit of water to keep it flat enough to work with, she began to curl the long blonde locks.

Cosima opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by the sound of her cellphone ringing. She glanced down at the number and recognized Scott's name on the screen.

"Hey, this is work, I gotta take this. Will you guys be alright for a few minutes?" she asked. Both Helena and Delphine looked worried at the idea of Cosima's departure, but they nodded and she gave an affectionate smile to both before dipping out of the room and around to corner. Helena's muscles were instantly tense when the brunette was out of sight, and Delphine's hands were even more cautious in her hair.

"You love sestra Cosima," Delphine wasn't sure if it was a question or an observation, and she struggled to come up with a response.

"Uh... Oui, yes, I do," she stumbled, cursing herself for struggling with her English. That only happened when she was nervous, and her words came out in a jumbled mess of French and English mixed together.

"This is good. You don't hurt sestra," it sounded like Helena's attempt at a threat, and though she used few words she knew the blonde wouldn't hesitate to quite literally hurt her if she betrayed Cosima. Not that she ever would, but she couldn't help being slightly nervous at the words. Helena was a trained assassin after all, or at least, she had been for many years.

Delphine continued to curl the clone's hair in silence, and eventually she resumed playing with Chance and Eskimo. When she felt Helena tense up once more and saw her reach down to her stomach, she paused, holding the curling iron back.

"You are doctor?" she asked after a moment, glancing back at the French woman. She nodded and Helena smiled down at her bulging stomach. "You help take care of babies?" Helena stared up at her with her wide doe eyes, and Delphine couldn't help but smile.

"I'll do everything I can," she promised. Helena turned and rested her head on the doctor's lap, and though her eyes remained open her breathing steadied to a pace slow enough that if you didn't see her face it could be assumed that she was sleeping. Delphine froze, her muscles tense, then after a moment she allowed herself to relax. Helena took the French woman's hand in her own, then squeezed before sitting back up, resuming her game with Champ as if nothing had happened.

Delphine took a moment to clear her head, blinked a few times, and resumed with curling Helena's hair. Around 10 minutes later, Cosima slipped back out from the bedroom.

"Hey guys, sorry that took so long, Scott was just-" she paused when she saw her sister. "Woah Helena, looking good!"

"Yeah, we're just about finished up," Delphine smiled as the last few curls fell into place and she applied one last light coat of hairspray. Cosima ran to the bathroom and grabbed a small handheld mirror, holding it up to her sister. She stared at her reflection in awe. Her hair was still far from Delphine's tight, precise curls. In fact, it was still quite loose, and a few of the curls had started to fall back into their naturally wild and wavy state. But Helena's mouth hung slightly ajar as she looked at herself, running a hand through the curls that fell to just below her shoulders.

"Do you like it?" Cosima asked, a wide smile on her face as she settled down on the floor next to her sister. Instead of answering, Helena turned to look at Delphine and pulled her into a slightly awkward hug, her arms wrapped around the doctor tightly. She tensed for the briefest of moments, then smiled and hugged her back. Helena rested her head on Delphine's shoulder as they embraced, and when she pulled back she rested her hand on the side of the taller woman's face.

"Thank you," she whispered, pressing her lips against Delphine's cheek.

"You're welcome Helena," the French woman smiled back, and Cosima stayed in her position as she observed, beaming from ear to ear.

* * *

When the door opened later that night, Cosima greeted Sarah with a wide grin.

"Hey, come on," she practically dragged the British woman into the room, but she kept her by her side as they observed the sight in front of them. Delphine was sitting on the floor, eyes closed as she slept leaned back against the couch, and Helena's head was in her lap, the blonde clone also fast asleep. Eskimo sat perched on the couch cushion beside Delphine's head and Chance was curled up by their feet.

"I told you Helena would love her," Cosima grinned proudly. Sarah chuckled and shook her head in disbelief, and as she approached the sleeping pair Delphine suddenly jolted awake. She looked around, a bit startled by the noise, but when her vision cleared she only smiled up at Sarah and rubbed her eyes.

"Helena? Time to get up," Sarah whispered to her sister, and she watched as the blonde slowly rose from sleep. An instant grin formed on her lips as she sat up and pulled Sarah's hands down to touch her still curled hair.

"Delphine curled my hair to match," she gestured excitedly between the two, desperately attempting to show her sister the comparison.

"I see. She did a wonderful job," Sarah smiled gratefully to the French woman, and she helped Helena stand to prepare to leave. "Thank you," she whispered to Delphine as she leaned down, and the doctor only offered a knowing smile and a nod.

After a few minutes of goodbyes and Helena giving Delphine one final hug, Cosima closed the door after her sisters and turned back to smirk knowingly at her girlfriend.

"Whatever you're about to say, why do I get the feeling it's going to be sarcastic," she grinned. The brunette laughed and sauntered across the room, plopping down next to the blonde and leaning over to press their lips together.

"I'm really glad you gave her a chance. I know she's, well... Different... And she's sometimes hard to understand, but it's really important to me that she likes you," the dreadlocked woman explained. Delphine nodded and cupped her cheek, kissing her forehead for a few moments 

"I know cherié. She really is a sweetheart. She's going to be a great mother," Cosima could only grin as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she really is."

Delphine let out a content sigh as Cosima positioned herself between her legs and leaned back into her frame, the smile never faltering on either woman's face. The brunette was nearly asleep when she heard the words, so much so that she didn't have the strength to stop the temptation of rest that was calling to her through half closed eyelids, but she was absolutely sure that she heard the words before she was thrust into a world of darkness.

"Do you think we should have a baby?"


End file.
